French

Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp Verbs:

These notes cover the use of être (to be) as an auxiliary verb in the passé composé (past tense) in French.

Key Concept: In French, some verbs use être instead of avoir (to have) to form the passé composé. This list uses the mnemonic "Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp" to remember these verbs.

Telling Time in French:

• 24-Hour Clock: French often uses the 24-hour clock (military time), especially in formal contexts like schedules. So, 1 PM is 13h00 (treize heures), 2 PM is 14h00 (quatorze heures), and so on.

• "Heure(s)": This means "hour(s)."

• "Et": This means "and" and is used to connect the hour and minutes.

• "Minute(s)": This means "minute(s)."

• Specific Minute Phrases:

  • :15: et quart (and quarter)

  • :30: et demie (and half)

  • :45: moins le quart (minus the quarter/quarter to)

Translations and Explanations of the Examples:

1. 1:00 AM: 1h00 - Il est une heure. (It is one o'clock.)

2. 2:05 AM: 2h05 - Il est deux heures et cinq minutes. (It is two hours and five minutes.)

3. 4:15 PM: 16h15 - Il est seize heures et quart. (It is sixteen hours and a quarter/quarter past four.)

4. 5:30 AM: 5h30 - Il est cinq heures et demie. (It is five hours and a half/half past five.)

5. 6:35 PM: 18h35 - Il est dix-huit heures trente-cinq minutes. (It is eighteen hours thirty-five minutes.)

6. 7:40 AM: 7h40 - Il est sept heures et quarante minutes. (It is seven hours and forty minutes.)

7. 8:45 AM: 8h45 - Il est huit heures moins le quart. (It is eight hours minus the quarter/quarter to eight.)

8. 9:50 PM: 21h50 - Il est vingt-et-une heures cinquante minutes. (It is twenty-one hours fifty minutes.)

9. 10:55 AM: 10h55 - Il est dix heures cinquante-cinq minutes. (It is ten hours fifty-five minutes.)

10. 11:20 AM: 11h20 - Il est onze heures vingt minutes. (It is eleven hours twenty minutes.)

11. 2:25 PM: 14h25 - Il est quatorze heures vingt-cinq minutes. (It is fourteen hours twenty-five minutes.)

12. 9:15 PM: 21h15 - Il est vingt-et-une heures et quart. (It is twenty-one hours and a quarter/quarter past nine.)

13. 12:45 AM: 0h45 - Il est minuit moins le quart (It is midnight minus a quarter/quarter to one - or you could say Il est zéro heure quarante-cinq)

14. 2:48 AM: 2h48 - Il est deux heures quarante-huit minutes. (It is two hours forty-eight minutes.)

15. 7:00 PM: 19h00 - Il est dix-neuf heures. (It is nineteen hours/seven o'clock.)

16. 11:45 PM: 23h45 - Il est vingt-trois heures moins le quart. (It is twenty-three hours minus the quarter/quarter to midnight.)

17. 8:09 AM: 8h09 - Il est huit heures neuf minutes. (It is eight hours nine minutes.)

18. 9:31 AM: 9h31 - Il est neuf heures trente-et-une minutes. (It is nine hours thirty-one minutes.)

Important Notes from the Exercise:

• The exercise emphasizes using the 24-hour clock for PM times.

• It practices using "et quart," "et demie," and "moins le quart."

• It also reinforces the basic structure of telling time: Il est [hour] heure(s) et [minutes] minute(s).

Seasons (Les Saisons)

• Prepositions with Seasons:
  
  

  • en été (in summer)

  • en automne (in autumn/fall)

  • en hiver (in winter)

  • au printemps (in spring) - Note the exception: "au" is used with printemps.

• Activities and Corresponding Seasons (D'habitude, je...):
  
  

  • D'habitude, je fais du ski en hiver. (Usually, I go skiing in winter.)

  • D'habitude, il pleut beaucoup au printemps. (Usually, it rains a lot in spring.)

  • D'habitude, je fais de la natation en été. (Usually, I go swimming in summer.)

  • D'habitude, je ramasse les feuilles en automne. (Usually, I collect/gather leaves in autumn/fall.)

  • D'habitude, je patine en hiver. (Usually, I skate in winter.)

  • D'habitude, je porte un imperméable au printemps. (Usually, I wear a raincoat in spring.)

Weather (La Météo - Quel temps fait-il ?)

Export to Sheets

Key Grammatical Points from the Weather Section:

• "Il fait...": This is the most common way to express weather conditions relating to temperature or general conditions (like "beautiful" or "bad"). It literally translates to "It makes..."

• "Il pleut" and "Il neige": These are impersonal verbs used specifically for "it is raining" and "it is snowing."

• "Il gèle": This impersonal verb means "it is freezing" (as in, below freezing temperature).

• "du": In the phrases "il fait du soleil" and "il fait du vent," "du" is a partitive article (de + le/la/les). It indicates "some" or "of the."

Conjugation of Vouloir

Conjugation of Pouvoir

Conjugation of Aller

Conjugation of Faire

Conjugation of Avoir

Conjugation of Être

Irregular Adjectives and Their Forms

The main adjectives covered are:

• beau (beautiful):

  • beau (masculine singular before consonant)

  • bel (masculine singular before vowel or mute h)

  • belle (feminine singular)

  • beaux (masculine plural)

  • belles (feminine plural)

• nouveau (new):

  • nouveau (masculine singular before consonant)

  • nouvel (masculine singular before vowel or mute h)

  • nouvelle (feminine singular)

  • nouveaux (masculine plural)

  • nouvelles (feminine plural)

• vieux (old):

  • vieux (masculine singular before consonant)

  • vieil (masculine singular before vowel or mute h)

  • vieille (feminine singular)

  • vieux (masculine plural)

  • vieilles (feminine plural)

Exercises and Corrections

Here are the corrected sentences from the worksheet:

1. (beau) Nous avons des beaux enfants. (We have beautiful children.)

2. (nouveau) J'ai un nouvel appartement. (I have a new apartment.)

3. (vieux) Juliette a une vieille voiture. (Juliette has an old car.)

4. (nouveau) Nous avons des nouvelles autos. (We have new cars.)

5. (vieux) Voici des vieux arbres. (Here are old trees.)

6. (beau) Jacques est un beau garçon. (Jacques is a handsome boy.)

7. (beau) Marguerite a une belle robe. (Marguerite has a beautiful dress.)

8. (vieux) Nous préférons ce vieux film. (We prefer this old film.)

9. (nouveau) C'est un nouvel ordinateur. (It's a new computer.)

10. (vieux) Les vieilles tantes parlent beaucoup. (The old aunts talk a lot.)

11. (beau) Elles sont les belles filles. (They are the beautiful girls.)

12. (nouveau) Il y a des nouveaux éléphants ici. (There are new elephants here.)

13. (beau) Regarde les beaux acteurs. (Look at the handsome actors.)

14. (nouveau) J'ai une nouvelle calculatrice. (I have a new calculator.)

15. (vieux) Raymond achète un vieil hôtel. (Raymond buys an old hotel.)

16. (vieux) Patrick est dans le vieil hôpital. (Patrick is in the old hospital.)

Key Points:

• Pay attention to the noun's gender and whether it starts with a vowel or consonant. This determines which form of the adjective to use.

• Practice these common irregular adjectives to become more comfortable using them.

Masculine Noun Endings

Feminine Noun Endings

Important Note: The text mentions that "basically, the majority of nouns that end in -e are feminine 75% of the time!" This is a very helpful rule of thumb. However, there are exceptions (e.g., le musée - the museum).

How to Use This Table:

When you encounter a new French noun, look at its ending. If it matches one of the patterns listed in either the masculine or feminine columns, you have a good clue about its gender. If the noun ends in "-e," it's likely feminine, but you should double-check if possible (with a dictionary or by seeing it used with an article like le/la/les or un/une/des).

Possessive Adjectives in French

Key Points to Remember:

• Agreement with the Noun: The possessive adjective agrees with the thing being possessed, not the person who owns it.

  • Example: son livre (his book), sa voiture (his car). Even though the owner is the same (a male), the possessive adjective changes because livre is masculine and voiture is feminine.

• Masculine Singular before Vowel/Mute h: Mon, ton, and son become mon, ton, and son even before feminine nouns that start with a vowel or mute h. This is to avoid a hiatus (two vowel sounds together).

  • Example: mon amie (my (female) friend), son histoire (her story).

• Plural Form: The plural form (mes, tes, ses, nos, vos, leurs) is used regardless of the gender of the noun.

Regular -IR Verb Conjugations

Regular -RE Verb Conjugations

Regular -ER Verb Conjugations

Verb Conjugation and Sentence Construction

1. "Nous vendons nos jouets à le vide-grenier"

• This sentence means "We sell our toys at the garage sale/car boot sale."

• "Nous vendons" is the present tense conjugation of the verb vendre (to sell) for the pronoun "nous" (we).

• "nos jouets" means "our toys."

• "le vide-grenier" is a French term for a garage sale or car boot sale. Note the use of the article "le" (masculine singular). It should be "au vide-grenier" (à + le = au) because of the preposition of place.

Corrected sentence: Nous vendons nos jouets au vide-grenier.

2. "Tu manger la pizza" / "Tu manges la pizza."

• This section focuses on conjugating the verb manger (to eat).

• The first phrase "Tu manger la pizza" is grammatically incorrect.

• The correct conjugation for "tu" (you - singular, informal) is manges.

• "la pizza" means "the pizza."

Corrected Sentence: Tu manges la pizza. (You eat the pizza.)

3. "Mon frère choisit joue mario cart" / "Mon frère choisit de jouer à Mario Kart."

• This part deals with the verb choisir (to choose) and the expression "to play (a game)."

• "Mon frère choisit" means "My brother chooses." This is the correct conjugation of choisir for "il" (he).

• To express "to play a game," you generally use the verb jouer (to play) followed by à (to) and the name of the game.

• The phrase should be "de jouer à Mario Kart" because of the verb choisir. When using an infinitive after choisir, you generally need "de".

Corrected Sentence: Mon frère choisit de jouer à Mario Kart. (My brother chooses to play Mario Kart.)

4. "Emilie et Nada chantent dans la chorale."

• This sentence means "Emilie and Nada sing in the choir."

• "Emilie et Nada" is a plural subject (equivalent to "elles" - they (feminine)).

• "chantent" is the correct present tense conjugation of the verb chanter (to sing) for "elles."

• "dans la chorale" means "in the choir." Note the use of the feminine article "la" with "chorale."

Summary of Key Points:

• Verb Conjugation: This exercise reinforces the importance of correct verb conjugation in French. Pay attention to the subject pronoun and the corresponding verb ending.

• Prepositions: The use of prepositions like à (to/at) and dans (in) is highlighted.

• Articles: The use of definite articles like le and la is demonstrated.

• Expressions: The expression "jouer à" (to play (a game)) is introduced.

Adjectives

Key Concepts:

• Adjective Placement: Most French adjectives are placed after the noun they modify. This is the main focus of the exercise.

• Agreement: Adjectives must agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they describe.

Examples and Corrections from the Exercise:

1. Ce sont des calendriers (joli/jolies) → Ce sont des jolis calendriers. (These are nice calendars.) (calendriers is masculine plural, so joli becomes jolis)
   
   

2. Son chien mange beaucoup (gros/grosse) → Son chien mange beaucoup. It was already correct. Son chien est gros. (His dog eats a lot. His dog is big.) (chien is masculine singular, so gros remains gros)
   
   

3. Claire et Charles sont les personnages dans ce bon film. (mauvais/mauvaises) → Claire et Charles sont les personnages dans ce mauvais film. (Claire and Charles are the characters in this bad film.) (film is masculine singular, so mauvais remains mauvais)
   
   

4. Nous avons deux télévisions. (deux) → Nous avons deux télévisions. (We have two televisions.) (The word "deux" is already correct as it is a number, not an adjective)
   
   

5. Ils ont des enfants (jeune/jeunes) → Ils ont des jeunes enfants. (They have young children.) (enfants is masculine plural, so jeune becomes jeunes)